Last week, Healthgrades revealed the National Health Index, a list of 100 cities getting healthcare right. The National Health Index evaluated more than a dozen variables, grouped into four health care factors, to determine if a city was getting healthcare right: (1) whether the residents of each city were healthy overall, (2) if consumers had access to health care, (3) if local specialists achieved high marks in patient satisfaction and physician count per capita and (4) if patients had access to high quality hospitals, which was determined using a new Healthgrades 2019 hospital quality analysis.
In this new report, Healthgrades analyzed nearly 4,500 acute care hospitals and their variation in clinical quality and outcomes relative to 32 common conditions and procedures. The analysis offered insight on the variation in clinical quality and outcomes across the country and found that patients treated at hospitals receiving a 5-star rating have a lower risk of dying, and a lower risk of experiencing one or more complications during a hospital stay, than if they were treated at hospitals receiving a 1-star rating in that procedure or condition. From 2015 through 2017, if all hospitals performed similarly to those receiving 5-stars, 222,210 lives could potentially have been saved, and 157,210 complications could potentially have been avoided.1
“Consumers have many choices for healthcare, but most important is understanding that there is a significant variation in care from hospital to hospital and doctor to doctor. In fact, hospitals within close proximity to each other can have significant differences in complication and mortality rates for the same condition or procedure,” said Brad Bowman, Chief Medical Officer, Healthgrades. “The analysis of hospital quality is intended to spotlight the importance of doing your homework before selecting your care. It could be a matter of life or death.”
View the Healthgrades 2019 Report to the Nation, an analysis of hospital quality in the U.S.
Access the National Health Index, a list of 100 cities getting healthcare right.
1 Statistics are based on Healthgrades analysis of MedPAR data for years 2015 through 2017 and represent 3-year estimates for Medicare patients only.
